As the method for determining the type of component holding members, i.e., suction nozzles, equipped to the component mounting head and the component mounting apparatus for performing the determination method, various methods and apparatuses have conventionally been known (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Publication No. H10-70395 A). FIG. 10 is a schematic perspective view showing the structure of a component mounting apparatus 500 as an example of such conventional component mounting apparatuses.
As shown in FIG. 10, in the component mounting apparatus 500, nozzle holders 516, 517 which can detachably be equipped with a suction nozzle 519 for sucking and holding a component 505 are installed on a head 503 equipped to an XY robot 508. A plurality of types of suction nozzles 519 appropriate for sucking a plurality of types of the components which should be mounted on a circuit board 502 are housed in specified positions in respective nozzle stations 506, and based on a control program of the apparatus, the XY robot 508 selects suction nozzles 519 appropriate for sucking the components from the nozzle stations 506 and makes the suction nozzles 519 be equipped to the nozzle holders 516, 517. With the selected suction nozzle 519, the component 505 is sucked and held from a component feeding section 514, and the sucked and held component 505 is mounted in a specified position on the circuit board 502.
Moreover in FIG. 10, a component waste box container 504 is disposed on an apparatus base below the head 503, and a pair of transmission sensors 520 is disposed on the lateral face of the component waste box container 504 for determining the presence of the equipping of the suction nozzle 519 to the nozzle holder 516 or 517 by using the mechanism that the equipped suction nozzle 519 interrupts an optical axis when the nozzle holder is lowered. The respective suction nozzles 519 have nozzle identifying marks 522 different from each other, and these nozzle identifying marks 522 are identified by a nozzle identifying sensor 521. It is to be noted that the optical axis of the transmission sensors 520 is disposed along a direction along which the respective nozzle holders 516, 517 of the head 503 are placed.
A description is given of an operation to determine the presence of the equipping and the type of suction nozzles by the transmission sensors 520 and the nozzle identifying sensor 521. First, the head 503 is moved so as to be located above the component waste box container 504 by the XY robot 508, and the respective suction nozzles 519 are aligned along and above the optical axis of the transmission sensors 520. Then, the transmission sensors 520 confirm the presence of the equipping of each of the suction nozzles 519 to the head 503. More specifically, the nozzle holder 516 is lowered so as to be positioned at a position where the optical axis can be interrupted when the suction nozzle 519 is equipped, and the presence of interrupting of the optical axis is confirmed. The same operation is applied to the nozzle holder 517. Along with this operation, the nozzle identifying sensor 521 reads the nozzle identifying mark 522 put on the equipped suction nozzle 519 for determining the type of the equipped suction nozzle 519. This makes it possible to determine the presence of the equipping of a suction nozzle 519 and the type of the equipped suction nozzle 519.